Motor2 version 0.9 is released and can be downloaded here:
http://code.google.com/p/motor2/downloads/list

Take a look at the changelog:
http://code.google.com/p/motor2/wiki/Changelog

I have been working on a skateboard game at work using the Motor2 physics engine. I am looking forward to the feature where you can change the groupIndex (used for collisions) runtime to be able to use the rails I have set up in the world. Michael who develops the Motor2 engine says he will soon release a new version. Really great. Eventually I´ll share some code and screenshots from the game.

Since I found out you can import Adobe Photoshop PSD files directly into Flash all external image updates have been a lot easier. The import function lets you choose options for each layer and you can choose what layers in the file you want to import.

When you want to import layers containing transparency, any objects on the layers behind the transparent portion of the object will be visible through the transparent area. To prevent this, import the transparent layer as “Bitmap image with editable layer styles”.

One feature I would like is that Flash should overwrite the images on the second import. As it is now, you need to copy the library items from the second import to the first manually.

One problem when exporting scripted animations to video is that the overall animation is not finished at the last keyframe in main timeline. This could result in a video where the animation is cut before it is finished. I found out you can export your animation based on time rather than timeline frames.

This video tutorial from Layer Magazine explains how to export a scripted animation to Quicktime format (mov) directly from Adobe Flash CS. I don’t understand why they made such a long video tutorial because the only important thing is the export settings.

File > Export > Export Movie

Select the Quicktime format

Stop exporting “After time elapsed [time]“.

Watch is the result (1.4 Mb)

(I used Adobe Flash CS4 for this example but it works just as well in CS3).